Elemental Management

I have written a lot about being a Haruspex. What it means to me. The ways of magics that are not magics at all but simple knowledge of the world we live in and the things we live here with. The more you know .. the less actual magic you use. Magic .. the parts of magic that are not natural ... take a toll ... take a bit of you each time you use it. Most of what I do is working with the natural elements that surround me .. not working against them. Working within them .. not just using them. It is my quest .. my goal as a Haruspex to ever learn the mysteries and intricacies of their ways and patterns... their harmonics. There is enough there that I will be studying them for the entirety of my lifetime.

When I found Tarra and Mezoo they were using their knowledge against the fire. But the fire was too big .. too powerful. It had a spiritual life of its own that was hard to nail down and define. I watched as Mezoo collapse with the heat and smoke and I rode strait for her .. throwing a leg over the pommel I hit the ground running and gathered her up hoisting her up on Tarra's beast and wetting my wind scarf from a bota on my saddle for Tarra to hold across her nose and mouth. Tarra with Mezoo .. and the Elders whipped their beasts ahead of the fire as I ran back to throw myself up on Rocca and I was right behind them.

The fire lunged without mercy as we raced for the fire break that Ayguili had the men digging up. It was a welcome sight .. that dirty scar cut into the plains .. suddenly beautiful. The kaiila took the jump eagerly .. anything to be away from the boiling flames that chased us.

We were not alone .. animals .. birds .. all manner of creatures both great and small ran with us .. ran beside and behind and before us .. all of them with the same thought that infested our own brains ... get away from the combustion.

Tarra and the Elders rode on for the wagons that were disappearing into the smoke over a small stream and beyond .. seeking a safe place..

... there was no safe place.

I asked about Seveya .. as if the need for knowledge of her was on everyone's mind as it was my own. There were no answers .. I knew there were no answers. I still had to ask. I still had to pretend I could rationally ask despite the fact I knew she was either ahead in the wagons .. or behind and fodder for the fire. I knew I could do nothing at this point either way. It ripped through me .. I never felt so out of control. So possessive without the freedom to feel possessive. It drove me a little insane. I set my mind on what I could do .. if she was alive ... the only thing I could do was fight that which threatened her. If she was dead .. the only thing I could do was to fight that which killed her and take my vengeance.

That left my focus on the fire.

The men were nearly anonymous .. grays and blacks ... shadow men that dug along the trench. Wagons moving .. pressing on away as far as they could get. Shadow wagons. The trench was good .. but it would not be enough. The fire was too big .. too fast ... it would jump it.

We needed more fire.

As insane as that sounds.

So I prepared to start a backfire .. between the trench and the flames. It would be small .. and it would eat all the fuel between creating an even bigger fire break than the trench. Ayguili said he would fall back .. and get the men to start a second trench ... there they would dig in and make a stand. I wrapped my cloth tunic around the end of my lance .. that fire was easy. I did not even have to think about how to do it as the flame flickered taking hold .. becoming a torch ... and I threw myself back into the saddle. By this time Tarra had returned .. Mezoo delivered to one of the wagons for a Healer to look after. I told her to ride Krim-ward and I would ride Rim ... and I spurred Rocca trailing my lance through the grass and starting the last thing anyone would ever believe we needed ... another fire.

Sometimes the best way to fight fire .. is with fire.

I am rather sure Rocca was convinced of my loss of sense. Though we had ridden into plenty of dangerous situations together .. I was with Rocca on this one .. not sure if we would be riding back out. As much as I consider myself rather good at stepping within the elements ... I am not stupid enough to underestimate their destructive power.

There was still no other choice to make.

I felt myself light up .. I felt all my own frequencies begin to harmonize with those of the fire. I felt the heat .. from the inside out instead of the outside in. I felt the energy begin to pass through .. instead of impact. Like a gentle breeze through the leaves .. stirring and moving ... but not shoving and displacing. Things slowed down .. I knew what I had to do before I had to do it. I was inside .. a part of it ... I understood it. What gave it life .. purpose ... where its weakness lay.

I learned to love it without fear .. so I could help destroy it.

To destroy the beast was a two part strategy. To provide the arena .. for the fight .. to corral the beast and contain it. And to step within it and change the very structure of it at its most base level .. at its genetic core. Weaken a seemingly simple strand of basic cellular structure ... and allow it to collapse in on itself slowly .. its evolutionary progress arrested.

It took us all .. as a people. The sweat and sacrifice of each man who fought that fire and each person who took the others to safety. Each person .. each child ... each woman and man ... each and every mind that rose in protest. Whether in direct opposition or in the care taking of others. Each one had their role .. each one would not have succeeded without the others. It was a people .. as one ... that conquered that beast and brought it down .. where it breathed its last. And then .. each person turned their eyes to the aftermath .. the care and clean up. The wounded and dead. The hurting and the sad.

Rocca and I rode out of the smoke and ash .. the soot clinging to every bit of us though we were uninjured. A couple of blisters on my finger where the most intense of the fire's energy had found a path of least resistance through me. That was all.

I was speaking to Ayguili .. when Tug came and told me that there was something wrong with his mother. That Tarra had bid him to find me. I started to follow him ..

And then I saw her. Like a lost shadow soul wandering with a limp through the chaos with Persephone in her arms. I do not think I have ever seen a more beautiful sight. A sight that I felt was like seeing myself .. safe and sound ... it felt that personal. I called out her name but I did not wait for her to respond. I jumped from the saddle and I grabbed her and Persephone into my arms and I did not intend on letting them go. Ever. Not at that moment. I took possession as I wanted and .. they were mine.

The moment was pristine. Clear and precise .. it was cut from the rest of the day .. from the rest of a lifetime ... and kept sacred.

But it was only a moment that was allowed .. before the crush of reality fell about us and I threw the two of them up on Rocca .. leading him as I followed Tug to where Tarra sat with Cana on the wagon bench. Cana .. was gone. Again. The mind is meant to do that. The mind is meant to protect itself. It was better for Cana to be where ever she was because where ever she was .. even if it was that place ... was better than here. Better than watching and hearing the screams of the dying .. the wailings of the living ... her Tribe family in such pain and loss.

Even if she had locked herself back into that place of desolate darkness .. I knew he was not there any more. I knew it was less of a holocaust than this was. Here .. it was her family ... there .... it was only her. Her mind was still fragile .. it needed this respite. I told Tarra that she needed to be put to bed with her children. That if she had still not returned by morning that I would come to her and speak to her. There was absolutely no way I was waking her up to this .. I did not want to be here ... if she was somewhere else?

Good.

Tomorrow would be soon enough.